Related papers: Nonlinear Resonances in the Solar System
An update is given on the current status of solar and stellar dynamos. At present, it is still unclear why stellar cycle frequencies increase with rotation frequency in such a way that their ratio increases with stellar activity. The…
The efficiency of tidal dissipation provides a zeroth-order link to a planet's physical properties. For super-Earth and sub-Neptune planets in the range $R_{\oplus}\lesssim R_p \lesssim 4 R_{\oplus}$, particularly efficient dissipation…
We show that stability of planetary systems is intimately connected with their internal order. An arbitrary initial distribution of planets is susceptible to catastrophic events in which planets either collide or are ejected from the…
The Solar System's orbital structure is thought to have been sculpted by an episode of dynamical instability among the giant planets. However, the instability trigger and timing have not been clearly established. Hydrodynamical modeling has…
We show that in a system of two planets initially in nearly circular orbits, an impulse perturbation that imparts a finite eccentricity to one planet's orbit causes the other planet's orbit to become eccentric as well, and also naturally…
In a multi-planet system, a gradual change in one planet's semi-major axis will affect the eccentricities of all the planets, as angular momentum is distributed via secular interactions. If tidal dissipation in the planet is the cause of…
Robust atmospheric and radiative transfer modeling will be required to properly interpret reflected light and thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets. This will help break observational degeneracies between the numerous…
About a dozen exoplanetary systems have been discovered with three or more planets participating in a sequence of mean-motion resonances. The unique and complex architectures of these so-called "resonant chains" motivate efforts to…
Atmospheric tides can strongly affect the rotational dynamics of planets. In the family of Earth-like planets, such as Venus, this physical mechanism coupled with solid tides makes the angular velocity evolve over long timescales and…
Observations indicate that intermediate mass stars, binary stars, and stellar remnants often host planets; a complete explanation of these systems requires an understanding of how planetary orbits evolve as their central stars lose mass.…
It is well known that the dynamics of a Hamiltonian system depends crucially on whether or not it possesses nonlinear resonances. In the generic case, the set of nonlinear resonances consists of independent clusters of resonantly…
Circumstellar dust particles can be captured in a mean motion resonance with a planet and simultaneously be affected by non-gravitational effects. It is possible to describe the secular variations of a particle orbit in the mean motion…
Stellar occultations and transits occur when a planetary body passes in front of a star (including our Sun). For objects with an atmosphere, refraction plays an essential role to explain the drops of flux and the aureoles observed during…
It has been suggested that tidal interaction is important for shaping the orbital configurations of close orbiting giant planets. The excitation of propagating waves and normal modes (dynamical tide) will be important for estimating time…
A widely considered characteristic of extra-solar planetary systems has been a seeming tendency for major axes of adjacent orbits to librate in stable configurations. Based on a new catalog of extra-solar planets (Butler et al. 2006) and…
We study systems of close orbiting planets evolving under the influence of tidal circularization. It is supposed that a commensurability forms through the action of disk induced migration and orbital circularization. After the system enters…
We study the long-term dynamics of a planetary system composed of a star and a planet. Both bodies are considered as extended, non-spherical, rotating objects. There are no assumptions made on the relative angles between the orbital angular…
The physical basis of chaos in the solar system is now better understood: in all cases investigated so far, chaotic orbits result from overlapping resonances. Perhaps the clearest examples are found in the asteroid belt. Overlapping…
Many recent observational studies have concluded that planetary systems commonly exist in multiple-star systems. At least ~20% of the known extrasolar planetary systems are associated with one or more stellar companions. The orbits of…
While numerous planetary and asteroid satellites show evidence for non-trivial rotation states, none are as emblematic as Hyperion, which has long been held as the most striking example of chaotic spin-orbit evolution in the Solar System.…